Apparatus and Method for Driving Display Panel

1. An apparatus for driving a display panel having a plurality of drive lines and a plurality of scanning lines intersecting one another, and a plurality of capacitive light emitting elements having a polarity and connected between said scanning lines and said drive lines at a plurality of intersections of said drive lines with said scanning lines, said apparatus comprising: a controller for sequentially selecting one scanning line from said plurality of scanning lines every scanning period of input video data including a gradation level to specify a drive line corresponding to at least one capacitive light emitting element driven to emit light on said one scanning line in accordance with said input video data; a scanning circuit for applying the one scanning line with a first predetermined potential and applying the remaining scanning lines other than the one scanning line of said plurality of scanning lines with a second predetermined potential higher than the first predetermined potential, during the scanning period of the one scanning line; and a driver for generating a PWM (pulse width modulation) signal having a pulse width corresponding to said gradation level every scanning period and applying the PWM signal to the drive line specified by said controller, so that the at least one capacitive light emitting element is applied with a voltage equal to or higher than a light emission threshold voltage in a forward direction to emit light when the PWM signal is generated in the scanning period of the one scanning line, wherein said driver applies the specified drive line with a third predetermined potential which is higher than the first predetermined potential and which is lower than the second predetermined potential when the PWM signal is not generated in the scanning period of the one scanning line, so that the at least one capacitive light emitting element is applied with a voltage lower than the light emission threshold voltage in a forward direction not to emit light and capacitive light emitting elements other than the at least one capacitive light emitting element on the specified drive line are charged by being applied with a reverse bias voltage when the PWM signal is not generated in the scanning period of the one scanning line.

2. A driving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said driver includes a current source for applying a voltage equal to or higher than said light emission threshold voltage in the forward direction to said one capacitive light emitting element driven to emit light.

3. A driving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said driver includes a voltage source for applying a voltage equal to or higher than said light emission threshold voltage in the forward direction to said one capacitive light emitting element driven to emit light.

4. A driving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said scanning circuit applies said one scanning line with a ground potential and applies said remaining scanning lines with a bias potential substantially equal to a predetermined light emission voltage, wherein the ground potential is used as said first predetermined potential.

5. A driving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said capacitive light emitting elements are organic electroluminescence elements.

6. A method of driving a display panel having a plurality of drive lines and a plurality of scanning lines intersecting one another, and a plurality of capacitive light emitting elements having a polarity and connected between said scanning lines and said drive lines at a plurality of intersections of said drive lines with said scanning lines, said method comprising the steps of: sequentially selecting one scanning line from said plurality of scanning lines every scanning period of input video data including a gradation level to specify a drive line corresponding to at least one capacitive light emitting element driven to emit light on said one scanning line in accordance with said input video data; applying the one scanning line with a first predetermined potential and applying the remaining scanning lines other than the one scanning line of said plurality of scanning lines with a second predetermined potential higher than the first predetermined potential, during the scanning period of the one scanning line; generating a PWM (pulse width modulation) signal having a pulse width corresponding to said gradation level every scanning period and applying the PWM signal to the specified drive line, so that the at least one capacitive light emitting element is applied with a voltage equal to or higher than a light emission threshold voltage in a forward direction to emit light when the PWM signal is generated in the scanning period of the one scanning line; and applying the specified drive line with a third predetermined potential which is higher than the first predetermined potential and which is lower than the second predetermined potential when the PWM signal is not generated in the scanning period of the one scanning line, so that the at least one capacitive light emitting element is applied with a voltage lower than the light emission threshold voltage in a forward direction not to emit light and capacitive light emitting element other than the at least one capacitive light emitting element on the specified drive line are charged by being applied with a reverse bias voltage when the PWM signal is not generated in the scanning period of the one scanning line.